Daphne Bramham: Anti-gay pledge could result in Trinity Western’s law degrees being worthless

Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun columnist09.10.2014

Trinity Western University is planning to welcome its first law students in September. But B.C.’s law society — as well as those of some other provinces — has not decided whether it is an “approved faculty of law.”

Trinity Western University’s law school is set to open the doors to its first 60 students in September. But the degrees granted by the private, Christian university could be almost worthless.

It’s because of TWU’s controversial requirement that all students, professors and staff sign a pledge that they will not engage in any activities that are “biblically condemned” including “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.”

In approving the law school in December, both the provincial accrediting body and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada declined to deal with the issue of the so-called “community covenant” saying it had no bearing on whether the university has the capacity to teach law.

There was some basis for that thinking. In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against the B.C. Teachers Federation when it challenged the appropriateness of TWU’s covenant after the B.C. government agreed that it could grant education degrees.

Yet the fundamental question legitimately remains: How can any Canadian institution — particularly a university — overtly discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation?

More specifically, it is reasonable to ask how TWU can be trusted to turn out law graduates who will not only challenge Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but respect it and be willing to defend it.

It’s a question particularly close to the heart of this debate since the legalization of same-sex marriage is the direct result of a Supreme Court of Canada decision that centred on constitutionally guaranteed equality rights. Would a TWU-trained justice make that kind of ruling? Would a TWU-trained lawyer be willing or able to passionately argue both sides of the question?

These questions are once again up for public discussion. Because even though the December approval appeared to end the debate and remove any roadblocks to TWU churning out lawyers, that was before a whole lot of lawyers started reading all the fine print.

The nub of the legal advice that the B.C. Law Society has received is this: It alone has final say in whether TWU has “an approved faculty of law” because the law society itself — not the federation — has administrative powers granted by the B.C. Legal Profession Act.

Here’s where it gets all lawyerly, complicated and in need of some background information.

Unlike economists, anthropologists or even teachers, having a university degree isn’t enough for a law graduate to actually practice law. To do that, they have to be licensed under the procedures established by the law society in the province(s) where they want to work.

That means completing a yearlong program that includes the Professional Legal Training Course and articling (doing an internship at a law firm) before being called to the bar.

Only law graduates are eligible to take those next steps and they must have attended an approved faculty of law.

Up until now, a committee of the Federation of Law Societies has reviewed all the paperwork to determine whether a law school meets the standards and its recommendations have simply been accepted by the law societies.

So far, that has included the recent approvals of both Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont.

But many lawyers believe that the federation erred in not considering TWU’s covenant. Not only do they disagree with it in principle, if TWU is allowed to go ahead with a law school, it puts lawyers and law firms in an uncomfortable position.

If they refuse its graduates articling positions or even jobs, the graduate could sue them for discriminatory hiring practices.

But, to reiterate, if TWU’s law school isn’t on the list as an approved faculty of law, its graduates cannot be lawyers in British Columbia.

The only caveat raised with the B.C. Law Society’s benchers (a.k.a. the board of directors) is that before they reject the federation’s approval recommendation, they must have a fair and open review.

That process began last week with the law society informing its members, providing them with briefing notes as well as its legal opinions related to the review and asking for their written submission.

On Feb. 28, the benchers will review any submissions and then vote on whether to adopt a motion to reject approval of TWU’s law school.

If adopted, the motion will be set aside until April 11 to give TWU and the public time to make written submissions before a vote is taken. TWU will also be invited to attend the meeting.

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Daphne Bramham: Anti-gay pledge could result in Trinity Western’s law degrees being worthless

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